January 20, 2023 — A new study by Stony Brook University researchers published in Global Change Biology demonstrates that warming waters and heat waves have contributed to the loss of an economically and culturally important fishery, the production of bay scallops. As climate change intensifies, heat waves are becoming more and more common across the globe. In the face of such repeated events, animals will acclimate, migrate, or perish.
Since 2019, consecutive summer mass die-offs of bay scallops in the Peconic Estuary on Long Island, New York, have led to the collapse of the bay scallop fishery in New York and the declaration of a federal fishery disaster, with landings down more than 99 percent.
This study led by Stony Brook School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences graduate Stephen Tomasetti, Ph.D., and Stony Brook University Endowed Chair of Coastal Ecology and Conservation Christopher Gobler, Ph.D., and a collaborative team of researchers reveals that extreme summer temperatures, becoming more frequent under climate change, exacerbate the vulnerability of bay scallops to environmental stress and has played a role in the recurrent population crashes.